Obesity and radical prostatectomy: The enigma continues.

To determine the association between surgical and postoperative outcomes as well as cancer follow-up of patients who underwent radical prostatectomy according to body mass index (BMI). An analytical observational study with retrospective data collection was conducted. We reviewed the medical records of all the patients who underwent radical prostatectomy between the years 2012-2014. The analysis of the data included a bivariate model to study the associations between BMI and the surgical procedure, its complications, oncologic outcomes and cancer follow-up. Then, we used multivariate logistic regression analysis to determine if there was an independent association between oncologic outcomes and BMI; the model was adjusted by age, hypertension and diabetes mellitus. 272 patients underwent radical prostatectomy: 98 (36.0%) had normal BMI, 142 (52.2%) were overweight and 32 (11.8%) were obese. The median age was 61 interquartile range (IQR=56-66) years old. There were no statistically significant differences in the preoperative and postoperative outcomes according to BMI. The obese patients had longer operative time (176 minutes, IQR=165.0-195.5) nonetheless, the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.18). There were no complications during the procedure (rectal, vascular or obturator nerve injury). The multivariate analysis showed that age, hypertension and diabetes mellitus were not effect modifiers. Our study suggests that there are no differences between surgical and postoperative outcomes according to BMI. This study represents a starting point for future research in our population to determine the impact of the BMI on prostate cancer and its management.